Kitchen Garden Courses at Boath House

The gardens at Boath have been an integral part of the whole renovation project on the small Highland estate. Our gardeners have tried and tested hundreds of different cultivars of herbs, salads, vegetables and fruit in order to satisfy the requirements of the kitchen, anyone interested in learning about growing their own can book onto our two day courses.

The first Kitchen Garden Course in 2012 will be on the 15th & 16th June 2012 and the price for the two day break is from £320 per person for two nights dinner, bed and breakfast.

Itinerary

Day 1 - Arrive before 7pm on Friday 15th, enjoy a welcome drink and our 6 course table d’hôte dinner.

Day 2 - Saturday 16th - spend the morning in the garden with Charlie the head chef, Amanda the gardener and Wendy the garden designer and discover new and exciting ways to use home-grown veg, herbs and flowers for culinary use. A light lunch followed by a cookery demonstration. Dinner in the evening using some of the ingredients picked from the kitchen gardens at Boath.

** As the Highland weather cannot always be predicted come dressed and prepared for all weathers in the garden! **

Scottish Hotel Packages

On first opening the house to the public in 1996, Don and Wendy grew herbs and salad leaves in a polytunnel tucked away in a corner of the walled garden. This developed into a passion for home grown produce and grew into what is now a busy production unit for the kitchen with a large heated greenhouse, polytunnel, parterred herb garden and veggie plots. The rest of the gardens have been restored and are currently undergoing another transformation under the guidance of Wendy, now a fully qualified garden designer.

In conjunction with the chef’s passion for foraged foods which can be found both locally and in the grounds of the 20 acre estate, we feel a certain alliance with the history of the house when during the wars in particular the grounds were used primarily for feeding the estate and local community. In the 1940’s and 1950’s there were five full time gardeners working on the estate. When the Mathesons first purchased the derelict estate in 1992 there were still remnants of the gardens of a bygone era. Dilapidated greenhouses with antiquated boiler systems and wells, with ancient peach and fig trees clinging on for dear life and a vigorous vine which refused to be killed off when building the new glasshouse.

Book now to experience a hands-on and practical approach to growing your own foods and to appreciate our magnificent gardens.